The game titled Forza Horizon is being developed by independent, UK based studio Playground Games in collaboration with Turn 10 Studios. Founded in 2009, Playground Games was formed by the same management team that brought us award-winning racing franchises such as TOCA, Colin McRae Rally, Race Driver: GRID and DiRT.

First Forza Horizon Screen ReleasedCome take a look at the box art, too

Microsoft Studios' upcoming open-world take on their popular Forza series, Forza Horizon is still relatively under wraps, especially given that all we've heard about it was the announcement at the Xbox Spring Showcase. For those of you yearning for a lot more detail on the title, today's post may prove insufficient, but at least we do have the first screen from the game and the official box art to share with you:

First screen!

Box Art

Forza Horizon is being developed by Playground Games in collaboration with Turn 10 Studios. This means that some of the people behind racers such as DiRT, Blur, Split/Second, and Burnout Paradise are behind the development wheel, so it's safe to expect a quality product. The title is scheduled for release this Fall.

The guys making it are a pretty small game studio and I personally know one of the guys working on it. He is severely lacking talent, so, the fact they hired him makes me dubious of the games quality. Since they're using Turn 10's engine and stuff, it should still drive ok, but those guys are just glorified level and UI designers.

The Kinect integration in Forza will be much different this time, as Joystiq reports that a voice-activated GPS will be implemented into the wide open spaces of Forza Horizon.

The feature is meant to prevent drivers from getting lost, or in some instances keep you focused on your next objective. Playground Games told Joystiq that a common occurrence during testing was people getting a bit lost in the large open world. The GPS should help you find your way. You can call out specific locations such as "GPS, Festival, Autoshow", or ask general questions like "where's my next race?". Once the Kinect registers your command, the familiar green Forza race line will lead the way.

We're going to assume that there will be some sort of GPS through the pause menu or a series of button presses, though this is only speculation. There's also no confirmation of what languages outside of English will be supported for this Kinect feature. If the Kinect can properly pick up your voice for the GPS, you could argue that this title is indeed "Better with Kinect".